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2024
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The Small Nuclear Reactor Revolution Is Underway
SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors with a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, equivalent to about one-third the generating capacity of a conventional nuclear reactor. SMRs are much smaller than traditional reactors and are modular, making it easier to assemble them in factories and transport them to the site. Because of their smaller size, SMRs can be installed on sites that are not suitable for conventional reactors. They are also significantly cheaper and faster to build than traditional nuclear reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site. The SMR market is expected to grow from $6 billion in 2024 to $7.14 billion in 2030, growing at a CAGR of 3 percent. The Asia Pacific and Americas markets will likely be the main drivers of this growth. In the U.S., an increasing number of tech companies are investing in SMR technology with the hopes of powering their high-energy-demand data centers with clean energy. The sector hopes SMR technology will be available to power several data centers by the 2030s, as their power demand grows in line with the rollout of artificial intelligence and other complex technologies. This has led Google to order seven SMRs, and Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta to follow suit. The growing demand for clean energy is encouraging conventional nuclear power companies and various startups to invest heavily in the development of SMR technology. There are over 90 separate designs for SMRs worldwide, many of which are backed by governments. However, many of these designs are in the initial phases of development and have not yet been tested for functionality. Bill Gates’s Terrapower is one of the U.S. companies currently building SMRs. The sanctions on Russian energy have led to delays in the advancement of the company’s SMR technology as, until recently, Russia was the only country to produce the HALEU, the high-assay low-enriched uranium required to power the reactors. However, with the U.S. commencing production of its first HALEU plant in November, there are high hopes for faster progress in the coming years. Terrapower broke ground on its first project in Wyoming in August and is awaiting approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is expected by the end of 2026, to develop an advanced nuclear reactor. Unlike conventional reactors, the firm’s equipment uses sodium, not water, for cooling. In the U.K., the government is backing the development of SMR technology. In December, the former national security adviser Stephen Lovegrove was appointed chair of the board of the Rolls-Royce-led consortium developing SMRs. Lovegrove said that Rolls-Royce is around 18 months ahead of the competition in developing SMR technology. Great British Nuclear (GBN) is currently running a competition between six companies to award contracts to develop SMRs, including Rolls-Royce SMR, American-owned Holtec, GE Hitachi, and Canadian-owned Westinghouse. The successful company will be awarded billions of pounds of public and private investment to develop the technology, to support government aims to expand the U.K.’s nuclear power sector. GBN was previously expected to provide approval for the development of an SMR by 2029, before shifting the deadline to 2031, and then again to 2032 or 2033. Rolls-Royce says the delays have held them back. The company hopes to develop its first 470-MW SMR in the U.K., before installing other SMRs in the Czech Republic and other European countries. In the Netherlands, the Nuclear Startup Thorizon announced a new consortium to develop a molten salt SMR. Thorizon has partnered with Dutch companies Demcon and VDL Group to set up an advanced testing facility to accelerate SMR technology development. The firm is currently building a 100-MW molten salt reactor, Thorizon One, which it hopes to get running in a pilot plant by the mid-2030s. It expects the first prototype to be fuelled by a mix of long-lived radioactive waste from existing nuclear facilities and thorium. This will transform much of the long-lived waste into short-lived waste. Molten salt reactors are powered by a radioactive solution that blends fissionable isotopes with a liquid salt. While they can be powered using uranium, they run optimally on thorium, a cleaner, safer, and more abundant nuclear fuel. The reactor is expected to be safer and more efficient than water-cooled plants. The project has been given support from the French government as part of its France 2030 innovation program and was selected as a key project by the European Commission in the EU’s SMR industrial alliance framework. Several companies worldwide are making advances in SMR technology, with the first reactors expected to be launched within the next decade. With a growing demand for clean energy, from both governments and the private sector, there is a significant incentive to rapidly develop the technology. In addition, SMRs could be used on a wide range of sites not suitable for conventional reactors, with the potential to massively expand the reach of nuclear power. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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Small modular reactor (SMR) technology has improved immensely in recent years, as several nuclear power companies around the globe aim to launch small-scale nuclear projects to provide clean energy within the next decade.